Winches



y 8, 1956 J. STEWART 2,744,637

WINCHES Filed Dec. 2, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I n Water 2]: siewaz'b' 3,,f

/ Attorney y 8, 1956 J. STEWART 2,744,637

WINCHES Filed Dec. 2, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2' Inventor J, :Ste wart%4..AQOEZJM M Attorney May 8, 1956 J. STEWART 2,744,637

WINCHES Filed Dec. 2, 1952 s Sheets-Sheet 5 Inventor Q7. 5665021 2: I B4 a Attorney United States Patent i WIN CHES John Stewart, Brentford,England, assignor to A. C. E. Machinery Limited, Brentford, EnglandApplication December 2, 1952, Serial No. 323,547

Claims priority, application Great Britain December 12, 1951 4 Claims.(11. 212-61) This invention relates to power operated winches and to thekind wherein the power drive is transmitted to a winding drum throughthe intermediary of a friction drive including one component whose axisof rotation is capable of displacement by hand operated means to renderthe winch operative.

The object of the present invention is to provide improvementsapplicable to winches of the general character above described, suchimprovements being designed to increase the usefulness of the winch byenabling it to be fixedly or adjustably mounted and also to provide thewinch with safety devices and automatic means to prevent overwinding.

According to the invention a winch of the kind described includes meansfor mounting it for rotational adjustment about a vertical support, ajib carried by said support and rotatable with the winch as a unit, andtrip mechanism for automatically stopping the operation of the winchwhen a load reaches a pre-determined height.

According to one form of the invention a winch of the kind abovedescribed includes a supporting bracket, a cylindrical sleeve carried insaid bracket and adapted to be rotatably mounted on a steel scaffoldingcomponent or the like around which the winch can be moved, and a jibhingedly mounted on said bracket and connected to the said sleeve bymeans which enable the degree of inclination of the jib to be adjusted.

Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a winch constructed and mountedaccording to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the bracket for supporting the winch,

Fig. 3 is a detail view showing the means employed for adjusting theposition of the jib ofthe winch,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of the hoist pulley block,

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevation of the jib,

Fig. 6 is a detail view of the device for stopping the operation of thewinch when a load has reached a predetermined height, and

Fig. 7 is a plan of the device shown in Fig. 6.

In the construction illustrated the winch comprises a bracket, shown indetail in Fig. 2, upon which is supported a power unit 1 (Fig. 1),conveniently an internal combustion engine, a three-speed drivingmechanism, a Winding drum 2, and a friction wheel 3 for transmittingpower to the drum 2. The winding drum 2 is mounted in known manner ineccentric bearings to enable its axis of rotation to be displaced andmove the friction wheel 3 into or out of driven engagement with anexternal friction pinion 4 operated by the power unit 1. The windingdrum 2 and the friction wheel 3 which are co-axially mounted to rotatetogether are normally maintained inoperative by means of a weightedlever 5 connected to the eccentric bushing of the winding drum, andmoved into operative position by means of a hand lever 33.

The winch unit as above described can be used as a stationary winding,hauling or lifting apparatus by anchoring the supporting bracket to afixed support but this bracket is also constructed to enable the winchto be used in other conditions. The supporting bracket which isconveniently of tubular construction is shown separately in Fig. 2 andcomprises two transverse members 6 and 7 each connected at one end to alongitudinal member 8. This in turn is connected to a third transversecomponent 9 upon which is mounted by means of a stirrup 10 a cylindricalsleeve 11 which can be passed over a standard tubular steel scafioldingcomponent 12, as shown in Fig. 1, or over any other cylindrical elementcapable of passing through the sleeve 11. The members 6 and 7 supportthe winch by passing through the side frame members 13 of the winchshown in Fig. 1, the component 6 being of greater length so as toprovide a handle by which the winch can be traversed laterally aroundits support. Embodied in the sleeve 11 are ball bearings to enable thebracket and winch to be swivelled through 360 to bring a jib connectedto the bracket component 9 into the position required for operation.

The jib includes two arms 14 connected at their upper ends to cheeks 15which support the bearings for a pulley 16 over which the winch cable 17passes. The jib also includes an upper arm 18 whose upper end ispivotally connected to the cheeks 15 and is capable of occupying threeseparate positions in relation to the sleeve 11. To provide foradjustment into any one of the three positions the jib arm 18 is formednear its lower end with a longitudinal slot 19 (Fig. 3) said slot havingthree recesses 20 along its upper edge. A clamping bolt 21 passesthrough the slot 19 and engages in one of the recesses 20, a handle 22being provided to enable the clamp to be slackened when adjustment inthe position of the jib is necessary. The rear end of the jib arm 18 isprovided with a handle 23 whereby when the clamping bolt 21 is slackenedthe jib arm can be moved to bring any one of the recesses 20 intoengagement over the clamping bolt 21 after which the handle 22 isoperated to lock the assembled parts in position.

The lower ends of the two arms 14 of the jib are hingedly connected at24 to the ends of the component 9' of the support. The cable 17 isconnected to the winding drum 2, passes over the pulley 16 at the headof the jib and also passes around a pulley 25 mounted in a block 26 fromwhich a lifting hook 27 depends and the end of the cable 17 isdetachably connected at a point 28 near the upper ends of the convergingarms 14 of the jib. This end of the cable 17 has attached to it a hook29 (see Fig. 4) whose form includes an entry slot slot 30 in onevertical edge, the said slot communicating with a vertical recess 31arranged at right angles to the slot. For direct lifting purposes thehook 29 is adapted to be connected to the head of the pulley block 26 asshown in Fig. 4, the head of this pulley block being provided with a pin32 extending transversely between its side plates. The pin 32 is formedwith diametrically opposed flats on its sides which are engaged by thewalls of the recess 31 in the hook which, therefore, has to be turnedthrough an angle of to reach its operative position. This arrangementprevents accidental disconnection of the hook even when the cable isslack. When a two-fall rig is required the hook 29 is passed beneath thepulley in the pulley block 26 and the hook engaged with a transversemember 28 eX tending between the lower arms 14 of the jib, thetransverse member being shaped in the same manner as the pin 32 alreadydescribed to prevent accidental disconnection of the hook. The hookconnection for the cable as above described constitutes a safety deviceas in transferring the cable from the pulley block 26 to the jib or viceversa it is not necessary to remove the refasten the devices whichsecure the hook to the end of the cable.

The winch is constructed so that when left unattended the drive to thewinding drum is automatically disconnected but means are also providedby the present invention for disconnecting the drive automaticallyshould the load be raised to within a predetermined distance of the jib.The eccentric bushing which carries the spindle of the winding drum 2 isconnected to the weighted lever 5 which is lifted to put the winch intooperation. This operation is effected by means of the hand lever 33movable about a fixed pivot 34 upon which is also mounted a plate 35having a pawl 48 mounted thereon movable around a pivot 43. The pawl 48has a shoulder 37 which engages beneath a projection 38 on the weightedlever, and is maintained normally in such engagement by means of aspring 39. The upper end of the pawl terminates in a hook 36 to whichthe end of a trip cable 42 is connected. When the hand lever 33 isdepressed the engagement of the shoulder 37 with the projection 38 liftsthe weighted lever 5 to cause rotational movement of the eccentricbushing and bring the winding drum into driven position in which itremains so long as pressure is maintained on the hand lever 33. If theload is raised beyond the predetermined limit, a'trip arm 40 carried bythe jib arms 14 is rocked and being part of a bell crank lever, itsother arm 41 is also rocked to exert a pull on the trip cable 42, whoseother end is connected to the hook 36 of the pawl 48 thereby removingthe shoulder 37 from engagement with the projection 38 and allow theweighted lever 5 to fall and thereby stop the operation of the winch.The trip cable 42 passes beneath a pulley 45 mounted on the bracketcomponent 9 and passes therefrom to its connection to the pawl 48. Thespring 39, whose other end is anchored at 47 to the arm 33, restores thetrip mechanism to normal position after the weighted lever 5 has fallen.

I claim:

1. A portable jib crane comprising a bracket embodying a plurality ofhorizontal components, means for mounting a power unit, frictiontransmission, and winding dr-um upon some of said components, a verticalpost, a vertical sleeve carried by one of said bracket componentsadapted for engagement over the vertical post, a jib hingedly mounted onthe bracket component which carries the sleeve, means adjustablyconnecting the head of said jib to the said sleeve, a pulley mounted atthe head of said jib over which the hoist cable passes directly to thewinding drum, an eccentric bushing for the winding drum, a weightedlever for causing partial rotation of said bushing to move the windingdrum between operative and inoperative positions, an arm pivotallymounted on the jib and in operative connection with the said weightedlever, the said arm being engaged and rendered operative by a loadreaching a predetermined height, and a pawl arranged to support theweighted lever while the winch is operative but which is rocked bymovement of the said arm to release the Weighted lever to fall and movethe winding drum to inoperative position.

2. A portable jib crane comprising a bracket embodying a plurality ofhorizontal components, means for mounting a power unit, frictiontransmission, and winding drum upon some of said components, a verticalpost, a vertical sleeve carried by one of said bracket componentsadapted for engagement over the vertical post, a jib hingedly mounted onthe bracket component which carries the sleeve, means adjustablyconnecting the head of said jib to the said sleeve, a pulley mounted atthe head of said jib over which the hoist cable passes directly to thewinding drum, an eccentric bushing for the winding drum, a weightedlever for causing partial rotation of said bushing to move the windingdrum between its operative and inoperative positions, a projection onthe weighted lever, a pawl adapted to engage the projection, a bellcrank lever pivotally mounted on the jib, a cable connecting the bellcrank lever to said pawl, the pawl being adapted to engage theprojection on the weighted lever to render the winch operative, and thesaid bell crank lever being engaged and rocked by an ascending load torelease the pawl and permit the weighted lever to fall and move thewinding drum to inoperative position.

3. A portable jib crane of the kind described including a supportingbracket, a cylindrical sleeve carried in said bracket and adapted to berotatably mounted on a vertical post around which the winch can bemoved, a jib hingedly mounted on said bracket and connected to the saidsleeve by means which enable the degree of inclination of the jib to beadjusted, said supporting bracket comprising two parallel membersconnected at one end and adapted to be passed through apertures in thewinch frame, and a third component arranged parallel to the other two tothe ends of which the lower components of the jib are hingedlyconnected, the said third component being also connected to saidcylindrical sleeve.

4. A portable jib crane comprising a power unit, friction transmissionmeans and a winding drum all mounted upon a winch frame, a bracketadapted to be rotatably mounted upon a fixed support, said bracketcomprising two horizontal parallel members adapted to be passed throughapertures in the said winch frame and a third member parallel to theother two, jib components hingedly mounted on said third member, a jibcomponent adjustably connected to said sleeve, a pulley carried at thehead of all of said jib components, a winding cable connected at one endto said winding drum and passing over said pulley, a hook at the freeend of said cable embodying an angular recess formed to preventaccidental detachment when said hook is connected to a load liftingpulley or to a component of the jib, a trip device defining the upperlimit of load travel and pivotally mounted on the jib, and a cableconnecting said trip device to means for stopping the operation of thewinch.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS754,585 Maxwell Mar. 15, 1904 1,443,376 Morgan et al Jan. 30, 19231,478,636 Clayden Dec. 25, 1923 1,834,985 Stoner Dec. 8, 1931 1,873,433Larsen Aug. 23, 1932 1,874,189 Howard Aug. 30, 1932 2,082,017 McClainJune 1, 1937 2,203,113 Uecker et al. June 4, 1940 2,557,852 Winkel June19, 1951

